Boosting101
Written by Crash Whether or not to boost is a more important decision to make than anything else in this game. Boosting will determine how you train your player and how quickly they become a star in the game. An unboosted player created in Season 1 will be equal to a boosted player created in Season 2. That is not to say that you are forced to boost, but that boosting is a great way to quickly close the gap between your players and the seasoned veterans. What is Boosting? Boosting is a way to help your player compete better. You are allowed to boost each of your players 50 times per season, at a cost of 25 credits per boost. Boosting an attribute of less than 50 will raise the attribute by 1 point, an attribute below 75 will raise the attribute by .5, an attribute below 90 will be raised by .25, and anything between 90 and 100 will be increased by .1. Boosts are scaled this way in the interest of keeping things balanced. Is there a limit to how many times I can boost an attribute? With the changes made in Season 2, there is no cap on how many boosts you can use on one attribute per season, contrary to the maximum of 10 there was in Season 1. I feel like Boosting costs too much money. Can’t the prices be lowered? Oh contraire! Boosting may seem like an expensive process at the time, but it’s actually quite cheap. What you need to remember is that a DIY Baseball season is 100 days. That’s more than twice as long as GLB’s season. To compare, I have broken down the current prices for boosting in both games: To boost a GLB RB/QB/WR: 900 Flex points - usually the 1,000 point package. $8.50. Comes out to 21.25 cents per day for a season. To boost a GLB Defensive player/FB/TE: 600 points - Either the 1,000 point package or the 250 and 500. Let's say it's the latter, $7.00. Comes out to 17.5 cents per day. To boost a DIY player - 1250 credits, $10.75. Comes out to 10.75 cents per day. There you have it. In actuality, it is cheaper to boost a DIY player, and you have a longer time to save the money needed to do so. When should I boost? There is no definitive answer to this question. There are many different theories, but nobody has sat and done the calculations (yet) to prove that boosting at one time is undoubtedly better than another. That being said, I will outline a few different strategies. 1) Full Boost at the start of the Season: Most people will tell you that this is the way to go. It’s a very simple theory – boost your main attributes as high as they will go and train other things during the season. While you will produce better statistics in the beginning of the season, it is possible for you to fall behind in the long run depending on your build and how many attributes are essential to your player’s success. 2) Full Boost at the end of the season: This can be done one of two ways. You can either wait until the dead last day of the season or boost your attributes of choice then, or you can do it right before the playoffs. If your team makes the playoffs, it is highly recommended that you boost before they start. While you will lose some of the benefit of training your main attributes during the playoffs, the impact of a full boost at the start of playoffs will be huge and should greatly influence your team. The benefit of waiting until the end of the season is that you can train your all of your attributes and then boost attributes that have been trained all season long to achieve a higher value in the main attributes. It is very possible that in doing this your play suffers at the beginning of the season due to competing with players who boost at the season’s start. 3) Partial Boost at the Start/End: Some people have expressed interest in this method. I have not tried it personally, but the benefits are easy to see. When the season begins, you spend some of your boosts to balance out your player or give him a jumpstart to the season, but you leave enough room that you can still train your main attributes during the season without the training gain being crippled. When the season ends or playoffs start, you use the remaining boosts. Again, this build may suffer a bit at the start of the season due to players boosted on Day 1, but it will close the gap quicker than option 2. They may also fall behind option 2 come playoffs. 4) Boosting to fix Build Problems: Like any game with skill levels, training something too high and neglecting another attribute can cause lots of problems for a player. There’s no way to avoid that. Problems will arise for just about every player in the course of the game. Fixing this midseason is a very tough process for those who have already used their boosts or are saving them for the end of the season. If you choose to save them for playoffs, you should consider boosting attributes any time your player’s performance suffers and you know it is not a slump or issue with his tactics. Choosing this option will allow you to train your main and still have your boosts for playoffs if it turns out you don’t need them. I’m still not sure I should boost… Well, nobody can blame you for being unsure. For some people, spending money on a game is an easy decision. For others it takes some time. Personally, most of my season 1 boosts came from referral credits. I opted to wait it out and see what I thought of the game before I decided to spend any money on it. If you’re not sure about boosting, give yourself some time and think about your interest in the game. If you plan on staying around for a while, boosting is probably a good option for you. It will make your player perform better, which in most cases will lead to a heightened interest in the game. Remember, for each player you want to boost, you simply have to put away a dime and a penny a day for 100 days, and you’ll have the funds. I have questions that weren’t answered. Post them! We’re all here to help out and would be glad to handle any questions you might have that remain unanswered. If you don’t feel comfortable posting your question in public, feel free to PM me or a staff member and everything will be handled in a private manner.